I came across what I think is a ridiculous and insensitive fictional email floating around that claims to be George Carlin speaking about New Orleans. This one really got under my skin. It’s completely ignorant and disrespectful to the hundreds of people who died in New Orleans in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

Here are some of the main points in the email:

Don’t blame the government for your failure to evacuate.

Don’t blame the government for you not stocking up on water and non-perishables

If you run out of food, find a store that has some.

If someone comes in to help you, don’t shoot at them and then complain no one is helping you.

My tax money shouldn’t go to rebuild a city that is under sea level.

The US Government didn’t create the Hurricane as a way to eradicate the black people of New Orleans

The government isn’t responsible for giving you anything. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave, but you gotta work for what you want.

I don’t even know where to begin with this one. There are so many ridiculous points. Here are some of my points:

There were thousands of people that tried to leave the city but couldn’t because they don’t own a car and there weren’t enough buses to transport everyone out of there.

People didn’t go to the Superdome because they wanted to watch a football game; they went there because they had no way of leaving the city or nowhere to go, or no money to go anywhere.

The government IS responsible for serving the people. That is the whole purpose of the government, to serve the people.

When the hurricane warnings came, most stores were sold out of necessities, and after the hurricane hit the stores were obviously not open.

To not discredit the entire email, I will agree that there were stubborn people that could have left New Orleans but chose to stay with their homes, and that was their choice. But the fact to the matter is that there were thousands of people who had the will to leave, but weren’t able to.

I could keep going on, but I think I’ve got my point across. On a final note, if it had been George Carlin that made those quotes, it would have at least been funny and witty.

http://www.blogger.com/profile/16252632293116411353 iBrett

That is offensive. I can’t imagine someone trying to assert those points as legitimate. All your counterpoints are good – but, I think the third counterpoint is the best. Ultimately, at the end of the day, governments have a responsibility to secure its citizens. The US government failed shockingly.